As one year comes to a close and a new year begins, my mind always turns inward and I spend some time evaluating the last year and setting goals for the next. 2021 brought back some the way life was and we are grateful for it. Every year brings lessons learned, new memories, and movement towards our hopes and dreams.
With that being said, I’m not actually huge on New Years Resolutions because most of the time we lose steam on them by mid-January, and by June we can’t even remember what it is we were hoping to accomplish. In the past, I tried to coin a term that would be my theme for the year, and while it had some impact, it wasn’t specific or actionable enough to make a real impact.
Over the years I’ve taken countless courses and webinars, read dozens of blog posts and articles dedicated to the topic. I merged them together and created a framework that I work through to review the year past and set goals for growth. And rather than making annual goals, I tend to make them more seasonally. Sometimes that coincides with the actual seasons, and others it’s related to achieving one specific goal and then moving onto the next one.
If you’ve wanted to get serious about goal setting in the past but ultimately get busy and put it off, I encourage you to go through the steps I’m going to share below.
We’ve created a handy printable version with bonus tips for you to guide you through how to set the right goals to change your life in the most meaningful way. Use this link to print off the worksheet and write these answers down. Alternatively, you can also copy/paste these questions below into a Google doc, but you’ll miss out on the bonus questions!
I’ve saved my goals in this format that I’m sharing with you back to 2017 and let me tell you, it’s a TRIP to look back at what my goals were, and a huge boost to see the things that I’ve managed to accomplish.
Like in 2017 when I accomplished adding two team members to Team TLD, and in my own words
“ending the cycle of continuous overwhelm.”
WHOA.
Imagine that’s you, right now in 2021, and how life would feel in 2022 if you managed to accomplish that?
So, yeah, it’s worth spending some time with.
If you’re super visual it may help to create a Vision Board. Fill it with images of what you’d like your life to feel like over the coming year. This is mine from this time last year. As I entered 2021, I hoped to spend more quality time with my family, grow an art business, pursue minimalism at home, and create a true home workspace. Most of these things, I actually ended up accomplishing. Not in small part due to the fact that as I moved through the year this visual helped keep me on track. So, download the worksheet! It just might become a yearly ritual for you to reflect and say "Hey, I did that!".
I was having lunch with a friend recently and she told me how she admired how I “went out and designed a life that you actually wanted.” I nearly cried because it’s so true. I have really hard days just like anyone else, but when I look around I realize that I’m truly living out my best life, and it didn’t happen by accident. I hope with all my heart that working through these will be meaningful and valuable and bring about true change in your life.
XOXO,
Tara
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